The weekly wildlife sightings from the Scottish Seabird Centre.

Wildlife sightings 8 September 2016

This week we were treated to the sight of a large pod of dolphins off Craigleith, which passengers on the CAT were lucky to experience up close. Numbers vary but approximately 35-40 dolphins were spotted in this pod which would make it one of the largest pods we have had here around the islands and the largest of 2016.

The gugas are starting to make their way down to the lighthouse and beyond onto the water in preparation for their long migration down to West Africa. The former are still too heavy to take off but soon they will be light enough to fly and will make their way up the boards and ramps to take their first flight. There are still a few young chicks with white fluffy down so we will have them here for a while to come.

We have had some sightings of seals in the past week but we are still waiting for the larger numbers to return to Craigleith and the May.

Fulmar chicks have fledged but the adults remain on Fidra and the May. Cormorant and shag adults and juveniles remain also around the lower shores of the islands and on Wednesday Sarah spotted a large number of shags jumping and diving into the water around Craigleith. We are yet to discover what this behaviour may be but Sarah is currently researching.